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Last month’s bridge collapse in Port Bruce has doubled firefighter response times to the Lake Erie village, prompting a short-term service switch while the community awaits its replacement.

The bridge was the main gateway to the 200-resident Lake Erie village, southeast of St. Thomas.

Its loss now saddles Malahide volunteer firefighters with a 20-kilometre detour, increasing their response time to 26 minutes, up from 13. For larger vehicles such as tankers, the trip takes even longer.

Port Stanley firefighters now are handling all calls for Port Bruce. Their 17-minute response time is longer than Malahide’s when the bridge was in use, but a local politician calls it the best option.